Critics of the Affordable Care Act need an alternative vision. What follows is a short explanation of the core ideas posted at the Congressional Health Care Caucus and developed in greater detail in the book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, say John Goodman, president and CEO, and Peter Ferrara, a senior fellow, at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Tax Fairness.

·Because of the way we subsidize private health insurance, the higher the family's tax bracket, the greater the subsidy.

·Alternatively, we should replace the current system of tax and spending subsidies with a system that offers everyone a uniform, fixed-dollar tax credit for the purchase of health insurance.

·The credit would be refundable, so that it would be available even to those with no tax liability.

·A reasonable goal would be a credit of $2,500 per adult and $8,000 for a family of four.

Universality.

·Unclaimed tax relief should be made available to local safety net institutions to be used in case the uninsured cannot pay their own medical bills.

·If an individual chooses to be uninsured, the unclaimed tax credit should be sent to a safety net agency in the community where the person lives.

·These funds would provide a source of finance if the uninsured are unable to pay their medical bills.

Portability.

·Employers should be able to purchase personal and portable insurance for their employees.

·Almost all the problems people have with pre-existing conditions arise because of a transition from the employer provided insurance to individually purchased insurance; and those problems arise because the employee doesn't own the insurance.

Patient Control.

·Patients should be able to manage more of their own health care dollars.

·What is needed is a single, flexible account that can wrap around any health insurance plan.

·In this way, people could combine self-insurance with third-party insurance in creative and economically efficient ways.

·Ideally, unspent funds could be withdrawn for other purposes without taxes or penalties.

Real Insurance.

·Insurance should not just pay for the cost of becoming ill, it should also pay the higher premium required if patients switch health plans.

·Insurance markets work best when each enrollee pays a premium that reflects the costs he or she is likely to incur.